Monday, April 30, 2012

Out from Normandy (France) here comes BEAR BRAWLER with their new ep "Tales of Deadly Addictions"... 4 songs here for about 25 minutes, including "Shine Down" that some of you may have yet heard on the compilation "Book of Riff Elations vol 1" .

Even if I just discovered it too, I can point out that there's a great improvement over their debut "Tales from the Putrid Swamp" : in the production first, which is far more massive and homogeneous , but also in the songwriting more careful and less predictable.

Sure, the american Sludge influences of Crowbar, Down and Eye Hate God are still detectable, not as obvious though, but the overall is groovier. There's slighlty more of a Stoner/Doom feeling here which implies more variations in the moods, making a great part to slower tempos, nicely twisted, groovy and hammering , that amazingly remind me some Black Pyramid catchiness in several parts !!!

The band belongs to the classic Sludge category which in my opinion takes as much from Doom, Stoner, Southern Rock and Metal than in HC, there's indeed nothing particularly noisy and filthy but a solid ability for massive riffage with raw and agressive vocals...

Where this could have been a full debut album with some old songs as fillers, this ep is still a real step forward which also shows that BEAR BRAWLER cleverly makes things in order; next step will be logically a full length and I'm convinced that it will blow lots of ears away, as for now be ahead of the masses and check out their bandcamp page...

This is just on streaming for the moment but a physical release of this nice effort is expected within the next months, so watch out for it and support this gnarly Bear !

Stoner, Sludge and Doom are related genres that are often mixed all together but rarely ultimately, succeeding to keep the specific essence of each while melting it in an effeverscent magma of heaviness... One must say this can't be an easy task but ROMERO does it pretty well on their "Couch Lock Single", a two songs ep released last week to celebrate the high holiday (4/20, the international pot smokers holiday) through Grindcore Karaoke, the online label headed by J. Randall of Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

The title song starts in a very Doomy way until the vocals turn the mood in something Sludgey, both Jeffrey (also on guitars) and Ben (drums) take care of the vocals and that make them rather unpredictable, while it ends on some Stonerish riffing à la Kyuss... The 2nd song is equally as long of 6 minutes, starting in a desert-rock mood, it then goes in a Sleepian type of crushing tempo, extremely heavy with another original touch in the vocals who there sound more like modern Stoner METAL... I love it, this is an excellent blend of heavy styles with tight musicianship, nothing demonstrative or pseudo avant-gardiste, nor retro-something, just straight, heavy and loud with a solid sense of composition.

This is then no surprise to read that the band already opened for titans like The Sword, Jucifer, Weedeater, Clutch, Dead Meadow or Black Label Society and there's more to come regularly !!!

Now, just 12 minutes is definitely NOT enough, so let's hope those 3 guys will record something longer quickly cause I uggerly need more of their sound.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Time for some rest by this rainy Sunday... I need light and serenity, not too quiet though but something heavy, cactchy and spacey at the same time; hum, let me consult my mailbox... Thanx to the masters of Fuzz and heaviness, I received again quite many various new materials this week but if I remember well there's a band that should correspond exactly to what I'm looking for : BRUJAS DEL SOL; a trio from Colombus (Ohio) who recently released a couple of pretty cool eps on Bandcamp...

Find below the links to both "Moonliner" vol 1 & 2 and enjoy their Heavy SPACE Rock full of melodies and DESERT rock sounding jams... a band that should certainly appeal to fans of DEAD MEADOW and YAWNING MAN !

If Vol1 is also interesting, my preference goes for the 2nd with longer songs (around 7 minutes) and more achieved arrangements in my opinion.

This is instrumental stuff for the largest part but I think they could include a bit more vocals like in the excellent "Conquistadors"; the other song from Vol2 "Baba Yaga" is totally amazing with its more frenzied mood that could remind some spy-film soundtrack...

For the moment, this is just available through "name your price" download via Bandcamp but note that the two volumes will be released on vinyl alongside Vol 3 and bonus tracks later in the year by Devouter Records.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

After "Circle of the Sun" late 2010, "the Higher Key" is the 2nd album of this great band from New Zealand...

When STONER is as heavy, dark, psychedelic and refined as ARC OF ASCENT displays it, I could listen it all day long ! This 6 songs affair abounds of memorable riffs, powerful and catchy, envelopped in a dark and gracious mood... Extremely heavy, they remind at times SIGIRIYA, not as groovy and more in heady mid-tempos but as powerful and massive with similar textures in catchy heaviness and refined psychedelism.

While a song like "Land of Tides" includes some classic Sabbathian riffage in its first part, there's then a solid work on catchy guitars peaking with psychedelic solos, almost desert-rock like; this mood continues in the beginning of "Search for Liberation", until we come back in the overall tone of A.O.C. music : HEAVINESS with grace. The song "Elemental Kingdom" is my fave, the basical riff is the most powerful of the album, should be something enormous and extremeley loud on stage, there's a massive and heady atmosphere here that is very special and the backing vocals are perfectly hypnotizing !

"The Higher Key" has really no weak moments, it's a very thick and homogeneous effort with a great addition of crunchy ideas that place ARC OF ASCENT easily above the average, let's hope it'll allow them to cross Oceans !!! The album is available on CD and LP formats.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Life is not always easy, but it's agreeable to count on a few unwavering supports, could they be human, musical or whatever thtat can help you feeling stronger... For about one year that I entered the world of ICE DRAGON, this band is a real unwavering support that brought me a lot personally, not just musically with their awesome Cosmic Doom but as a whole entity : humanly, conceptually, lyrically... Their 3rd album "Tome of the Future Ancients" is such a masterpiece that during about two weeks it represented at least 90% of my musical listenings, then it slightly decreased mainly by one band's fault : TENTACLE... the new side-project of those crazy wizards !!! The debut ep of this Sludge beast is another stunning effort of this hyperproductive guys that I strongly advise you to check out...

Always curious about the good thoughts of Ron (voc/drums), I've had a long chat with him yesterday evening, enjoy this cool one !

A month after its release and about 50 listenings, I'm more than ever convinced that "tome of the future ancients" is your most achieved work so far, still full of contrasts but darker, more hypnotic too than your previous albums ... How would you characterize it and make the difference ?

We've all been saying it's the most "Ice Dragon" of all our music so far. haha. Which is to say that it's very true to what we are trying to accomplish with this band. We don't wanna just do what everyone else is doing, we don't want to be a "doom" band or any kind of band for that matter. Just make cool, weird, ORIGINAL music. This has the most "we don't give a shit" feel to it I think and that's exactly how we wrote and recorded it. Not to sound like a pompous ass though, just saying it's kind of like a heavy rock album with a punk spirit to it. Make sense?

The darkness of it comes from drinking heavily and having lots of fucked up thoughts all the time. At least from a lyrical perspective.

"the black book of hour" and "night" have a different tone, more menacing , including your vocals... I see those songs as a kind of transition between the "usual" ICE DRAGON and your new project TENTACLE , what's your opinion ?

I'd say you are dead on accurate with that! haha. TENTACLE is essentially going to be the heavier more menacing version of Ice Dragon, lot's of downtuning and screaming and yelling.

OH YEAH, and "Night" was just an awesome idea we had to make a song with 1 riff, and 1 word. Has nayone ever done that before? I'm not sure. Maybe they have and we are just idiots.

Songs from TENTACLE like "alone in my grave" or "talking, bending, dripping, breaking" certainly retranscribe some of those fucked up thoughts you're talking about, but I.D. has also this kind of lyrics , do you see a difference lyrically wise and conceptually between both bands ? Does TENTACLE represent another alternative to your creative needs ?

Yeah, for this first release those TENTACLE songs are probably fairly close in theme to Ice Dragon stuff. I would say that they are definitely going to get more and more fucked up as we move ahead. More evil and depressing stuff. We've been working on some new ID stuff already and it's coming out much more rock-ish, a little faster, and more fantasy style stuff. It's still very Ice Dragon though.

I've read surprising things in a critic of "tome of ..."... So far, which critics on the new album did you find interesting/justified/constructive ? Do you feel some songs could have been effectively shorter ? that's perfect in my opinion, after all there's just 2 songs that last more than 7:30 !!!

Yeah, overall I think the response has been really great, considering it's such a weird album. I personally really like that YOU have used the word "hypnotic" in describing it. That's exactly the idea. I think of a lot of these songs as "Drone" style music really, just with drums. I gotta say that Wes Cueto and BrokenBeard both have done excellent reviews of it, very well written stuff and spot on reviews.

Coming back to labels on bands music, I know some new ears that are enjoying the sound of TENTACLE on the SLUDGE front, I think especially with the awesome "alone in my grave"... did you already feel it ?

Yeah, definitely a Sludge vibe going on there. I hope it sounds something like Alice in Chains + EyeHateGod + Ice Dragon. haha. But it probably doesn't. I just like to think that. Or hope for that.

In our first interview last summer, you told me that you were not really looking for LIVE performances which seems more than confirmed by the fact that ou didn't give any gig since then (if I'm not wrong)... I guess you've had some propositions though ? are you still in that state of mind ? considering this is exactly the same line-up I suppose things are gonna be the same with TENTACLE ?

Yeah. We are just WAY more into recording now. Shows just tend to be a huge waste of time for the most part. At least in our opinions. You alway sound "AMAZING" to the people who are there, mostly because they are shitfaced and will like anything as long as it's loud, not because they are actually into your type of music. Or at least that's about 99.9% true. You gotta lug around tons of gear, pay for taxi's or gas or both, if you make any money on the door or merch you just lose it in buying beer or travel expenses. Etc. Etc. Etc. It's not all it's cracked up to be. THAT BEING SAID THOUGH.... we are definitely considering playing live again sometime this year. We just want to find exactly the right time and venue for it when we can all feel good about it and give people a damn good show.

Lucky will be the choosen ones !well , something totally different now, How do you see the sudden changes concerning your brothers of PILGRIM... you know their deal with Metal Blade, tours, etc... ? Could you imagine your reaction in front of the same proposition ? are you all three thinking the same about that ?

I think it's totally fucking awesome for them, and they deserve it for damn sure. I don't think any "big" label would want anything to do with us really, we just don't have the right sound and definitely do not have any interest in playing ball as far as doing shit that they want. We're older and don't want to be rockstars or anything like that, we just want to make music in a basement and get drunk. Getting shit released on good formats and nice quality is rad though. And never say never and all that. I like what we're doing now though and I just hope we don't fuck it up.

Your first album "the burl, the earth, the aether" has just been released on vynil, can you present this please ? I know "tome of the future ancients" will be also released on Yersinia Pestis rds, any more details about the date release ? Any hope to see "the sorrowful sun" on vynil too ?

The Burl vinyl came out FANTASTIC, we are way psyched for that. Goatess Doomwych, Vesa Lahde, and Stone Stallion Rex handled all the artistic stuff and it's all amazing. I can't wait to hang that poster on my wall man! Tome is going to be epic on vinyl, Josh McAlear from Yersinia Pestis is doing a ridiculously awesome cover for it too. I have no idea on a release date for it, but sometime this year probably. No plans for Sorrowful Sun on vinyl yet, but it'll be re-released on tape by Acid Punx very soon.

Joe uses mellotron and sitar on the album, does he practise that occasionally or maybe through some other musical projects ?

Joe never practices. haha. He's just awesome. He actually got that sitar over in India too. He definitely doesn't just "play bass" ya know? He's much more involved in the writing than most bass players are. Much more.

On a recent photo, I've seen Carter with a homemade double-guitar in hands, did he use it for any of your recordings yet ? Does he play only on homemade material ?

Carter used that double neck sg on almost all the TENTACLE stuff. He played mostly the twelve string on all it. It gives it all this huge warm sound. I love it. He makes guitar shit like crazy, it's pretty rad. And that guitar just looks totally boss.

In your opinion who's actually the most underrated band in the scene ?

Probably Spelljammer or Monolithian. Not that they don't get good reviews or whatever, just not enough people talking about them in general.

You guys show in various circumstances a great sense of humor which confirms your attitude and thoughts towards the too frequent politically correct in terms of image and communication... is is a subject that you already spoke about with other bands friends ? is there any band that you feel particularly closed to your ideas ?

Yeah, we like to have a sense of humor about all the bullshit "band stuff" for sure. We don't want to be seen as a funny band though, like musically, our music is very serious to us. People should be more serious about their music and less serious about photos and acting tough and cool and whatever the hell. All those newer photos we took of us in wigs and shit were kind of a poke at all that. Like bands playing dress-up for their photos and pretending they are rock stars when most of them work at Jiffy Lube or a shitty office somewhere and wear khaki pants all day. Just be yourself, make fun of yourself a bit, and have fun.

You released split eps with PILGRIM late 2011 and then recently with FELLWOODS, those are both good friends, how did both projects happen exactly ? did you bring the project to the labels or ...?

As far as the splits go, Pilgrim could have picked anyone they wanted, certainly someone cooler than us, haha. That split came out really badass though and I think a lot of it is because we are all pals and get along real well. Both those tracks were recorded in my basement, they are both called "Astaroth" and they are both very very doom. One time The Wizard was sleeping on the pullout couch in our extra room and me, Count Elric the Soothsayer and Krolg, Slayer of Men were drinking and fucking around making noise and shit and we went in there for something. I forget why exactly. Anyway, The Wizard was all sleepy and he gets up real fast looking all crazy like a wizard and he's like "Watch out! there's poop everywhere! There's poop all over the bed and all over that blanket! It's weird grey poop!!!" So me and everyone else checked out the scene, but there was no poop anywhere. We even went so far as to take the blanket out into my kitchen and hold it up to look for the poop. There was no poop.

Fellwoods are way rad guys too. We haven't had any of them come to sleep over yet though. Maybe someday. Adam asked us to do a split with them and of course we said yes straight away. They rock out, and that split is going to be more of a rock and roll monster I think. The art is superb that's for sure. That'll be a good summertime jam I think, open up the windows and be grilling with that one blasting out the neighborhood

Last month in the Wives ov Doom pt2 Sam revealed that you were about to have internet at home, is it effective ? by what did you start : listening podcast or watching porn or both at the same time ?!!!

We STILL don't have internet at home. That shit is $$$. Plus me and Sam aren't exactly your typical 30-somethings I guess. We don't have cable either. No computer cuz we broke the last one. Neither of us has a smart phone, just regular old flip phones that call and text and that's it. No dishwasher, no microwave, no car. We ride bikes and I have a broken down '77 Dodge van sitting in the driveway. I'll get around to fixing it one of these days. BUT, I do have 4 turntables (one is all tube), 3 tapedecks, 2 cd decks and an 8-track player all hooked up and rockin. Sam goes to library a lot for the nets and I just do it at work.

With all your successive releases, the menu of your BANDCAMP page looks great, in 2 or 3 years it'll be as exciting as the menu of The Grass Company in Tilburg !!! you told that you're yet working on new I.D. material, can we expect something for the next winter solstice ? any new T-shirt planed ?

The new Ice Dragon stuff we have been working on is coming out real cool. A lot faster, a lot more rockin'. Maybe people will hate that about it though, we'll see I guess. We've also been doing a ton of the dreamy stuff, but that might just be used for something special. It remains to be seen.It's funny you mention the winter solstice too.... we were just discussing that the other day...

Shirts will happen. We want to do a different design though so it might be a little while before we get up and rolling with one. Merch isn't really our strong suit i guess. We're working on it. I put some extra studs and some spikes on my leather jacket last night, it looks really powerful. Also I have been drinking that Miller 64 lately, it's crisp and refreshing and helps with keeping away the beer belly a little.

I like to smoke my pipe in the evenings. Like a regular tobacco pipe. Been doing some of the Captain Black lately. Have a cup of strong french-press coffee along with it, or a glass of scotch. It helps you relax and ease away the onslaught of thoughts that are always whirling around.

I guess that's all I got. This has been terrifically fun Steph! It's always a pleasure chatting with you. I hope everything is going well with you and in the splendor of France. Wish I could have a smoke and some wine and cheese with you sometime over there. Ah, that would be the life.

Thanx a lot Ron, that was deeply interesting :) and indeed that would be really cool, you'll be always welcome even in 20 years !!! everything can be ready in 5 secondes here, I'm waiting for you my friend !

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Here's a new episode from the "WIVES ov DOOM" with Corinne Severin and Christine Smith. As you'll see, we've got here again two pretty different ways to live and express feelings towards the passion of Mister for heavy sounds, but all in a total respect and that is the most essential ...

Thanx a lot to you Ladies for your participation and refreshing sincerity !

1) I wanted to know which are your feelings towards the passion of Mister for Doom and Heavy musics in general... a) Todd aka "Racer X" and I have different taste in music.... I am getting used to (kinda) of what he's spinning...

Could they be slow and gloomy or fast and brutal, how do you enjoy these weird sounds ?a) If I just don't want to "think" I don't mind listening...a little bit ;-)

Do you sometimes take vengeance and play crappy Pop stuff just to piss him off ?a) I play as much "trance" music I can!

2) Are you proud of what he's doing with his band/blog/label/ Radioshow/ Record label ?!! a) Utmost respect

Do you think this is more rewarding to play in a respected but underground Doom band than playing shit in a wellknown band ? a) I'm all for originality, creativity and passion. Music is universal.

Do you think playing Doom is necessary to his equilibrium and maybe that only this kind of music can bring him what he needs or is looking for ?

a) I don't know if it's "necessary", I know he has an "ear" for talent. He would hear the same song at least 4-5 times and different times during a day.

3) Does he still have enough time for both housework's and cuddles, or sometimes there's difficult choice to make between both ?!a) HA, I would like him know when it's time...I have a huge broom stick with a hook at the end, so when I feel he needs to get off the dam turntable....he'll feel it. ;-0

4) When he's listening music with headphones, computing on the net, practicing with his band, playing gigs far away... do you feel alone quickly or is it an opportunity for you to meet friends/parents, make some things you enjoy but can't do together, etc... ?a) Absolutely, I enjoy my time away from him, we are both free spirited and independent, I also enjoy knowing he's having fun and into his element. Everyone deserves to wallow in their passion.

I wanted to know what are your feelings towards ssion of Mister for Doom and Heavy music in general... Could they be slow and gloomy or fast and brutal,how do YOU enjoy these weird sounds ? Do you sometimes take vengeance and playcrappy Pop stuff just to piss him off ? To be honest I had never really heard any of the Doom music until Mike took me on a trip to Indiana one year for the Templars of Doom Fest. I was so surprised! I actually liked the music! Another thing that was most shocking was how awesome all of the people were. I had a misconception of how the people and music would be at the fest, but when we were there everyone was so nice, easy going and respectful. I really loved everything about the weekend including the music. There is such a camaraderie amongst everyone. They make everyone feel welcome. It is almost as if the genre as a whole is a family. It was a true eye opener for me. I really appreciated and respected Doom Metal after the Templars of Doom fest. The people of Doom were one of the main reasons I really wanted Mike to put on Days of the Doomed. Of course I play crappy music to piss him off! Don’t most wives? The worst is when I play ABBA or Lady Gaga for our two boys and they sing along with me. He really hates that! But they do like KISS...

Are you proud of what he's doing with Days Of The Doomed Fest?!! Do you think promoting Doom is necessary to his equilibrium and maybe that only this kind of music can bring him what he needs or is looking for ?I am very proud of what he is doing with Days of the Doomed Fest! Music is his life it is in his soul, it is a part of him, it is who he is. He has always wanted to play drums in a doom metal band, but he never found the right people to start a band with. Promoting this fest has really helped fill that void for him.

Does he still have enough time for both housework and cuddles, or sometimes there's

difficult choices to make between both ?!

He tries to make time for everything, and it is stressful for him because we have two young kids and of

course as a wife I can be demanding. He tries hard to balance it. I do have my days where I tell him “Today,

I don’t want you to be on the computer or your phone all night.” I try to be supportive of it too though.

When he needs time alone I make sure I take the kids somewhere or just give him that time. It is surprising

how much time promoting a fest can take up. It is like having a second full time job.

When he's listening music with headphones, computering on the net, promoting the fest, negotiating with bands... do you feel alone quickly or is it an opportunity for you to meet friends/parents, make some things you enjoy but can't do together, etc... ?When he is promoting the Days of the Doomed Fest or listening to music or chatting with bands or talking for hours on the phone, it is an opportunity for me to hang out with the kids, family and friends. Mike is a wonderful man. I feel the kids and I are very lucky to have him. I also feel he is a great asset to some of these bands that are playing the fest. He has made a ton of new friends over the past couple years and he and I have met so many new people. It has been great. He has done a great job with these two fests. I look forward to seeing what the future will bring for Mike with Doom music. Hails to all the bands involved in this years fest!

A few lines about the soon to be released Double debut lp from Boston's Heavy Stoner band CORTEZ , on Bilocation rds out of Germany...

Here's a very experimented quatuor that delivers an amazing blend of 70's Heavy Rock and Doomy Stoner Rock, with an emphasis on groovy riffs and bluesy vocals; sometimes terribly heavy and shredding, sometimes more quiet and almost psychedelic, always characterized by catchy choruses and a strong musicianship.

This is the perfect kind of BIG, LOUD and HEAVY stuff with a slight dirty and rebel edge that should maliciously play with your mind.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Save the welcome Roadburn days, for a few weeks, I'm personally living very rough times, there's a smell of death surrounding me that is very hard to stand, so I hope you'll understand the fact that T.O.P. activities are a bit slowed down, especially on the Interviews front...

Things should come back in order little by little but these days I'm not able to write something consistent. I also know that after all those posts to gain little by little more attention, it would be a pitty to loose a great part of the audience with a total inactivity; people can sometimes forget you so quickly...

If there's now a band to present you immediately, there's not a second to hesitate, this is BEELZEFUZZ ; they're so fuckin original, playing some Progressive Melodic DOOM like you've assuredly never heard before... I just asked Purg Kirby (bass) to present me his band the most simply, completely and concisely possible, which I think he did brillantly below; for the rest, let the music speaks and believe me they've got incredible arguments ! Consider this as an introduction to the magic sound of this band, while an interview will follow this summer when the album is released... As for now enjoy their masterpiece of a demo and if you have the luck to live on the East Coast, have a look on the live dates announced :

We
are playing with Weedeater,Cough,ASG this Thursday (4/26/12). We are
also playing with Admiral Browning, Clamfight, Pagan Wolf Ritual,
Blackhand, May 4th, 2012. We will be playing Days of the Doomed Fest II
June 15th-17th 2012 in Wisconsin. We will also be playing Stoner Hand of
Doom XII August 31st - September 3rd in Connecticut.

We hail from
North East, MD USA.

We are currently working on a full length album.
We will hopefully have it mixed and mastered in the next few months.
Our logo design was done by BrianTutlo. We have t-shirts
(sm,med.,lg,xl,xxl,xxxl), Stash boxes, stickers and free demos for
now.... We have no label support. There is also a fan page BEELZELOVER
on Facebook, started by Jaki Cunha and Deanna Potter. We are very
grateful to have such an awesome crew of support".

Sunday, April 22, 2012

SUN EATER is a Psychedelic Stoner/Doom trio from Tacoma, WA. Comprised of three college students between the ages of 19 and 20, Sun Eater is bringing a fresh sound to the Psych Heavy Rock genre with an emphasis on heavy riffs, intense guitar solos and quality, all envelopped in delightful Doomy vibes.

Founded in the Fall of 2011 by Ben Block and Kirby Lochner, they soon picked up Daniel Salas on the drums ; with diverse musical backgrounds between the three members, SUN EATER turns heads with a strong psychedelic sound.

Working hard in their basement for the past six months, they already show a very interesting identity and tight musicianship, introducing without any complex (why should they after all ? it's not cause you're so young that you shouldn't be unrestrained and even daring) a great part of jams in their first debut EP, recorded at the band's home in Washington state.

The guys dig Earthless, Colour Haze, Sleep... The 3 songs are almost entirely instrumental, there's just the end of the 1st that introduce some raw and straight vocals, but in no way there's a lack towards this... when you got such a talented guitarist in yer band, that's not a problem at all if nothing is too pre-etablished; keep on this way guys, I'm sure lots of great things are awaiting you...

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Formed in Summer 2011 and consisting in Jo (vocals), Nico (bass), Vince (guit), Yoran (guit) and Nico(drums), BULL TERRIER is a very promising new band from Strasbourg, an area from the East of France that has recently revealed two other nice bands THE PLEDGE OF CAIN and CROWN, those are Sludge but B.T. is pretty different...

Mixing quite many sources of inspiration, the band plays an awesome blend of Stoner and Southern Rock'n'Roll, they like it thick and burning... listen the first extract of their debut demo below, the 2nd song will be soon mixed. Shortly after, both tracks will be streaming on line, but this recording is mainly to be considered as promotional !

Of course just one song is not enough to have a full and definitive point of view but fuck what a song with this "as Critter's ... in the Bushes"!!! this is extremely heavy, raw and sweaty, the kind of song that is anyway destined to be played several times in a row ;)

The band will be soon giving several gigs, starting by a date in their hometown with PLANET OF ZEUS from Greece (next week, April 24th), check out their FB page for infos about other dates in June with bands like CHIENS, KEHOT RIBOTTE, CARNAGERS... Now enjoy the song and follow BULL TERRIER.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

After having been completely crushed by the German gods NECROS CHRISTOS last week at Roadburn, here's a new release that can largely fulfil my expectations when I feel a strong need of tormented Doom blended with dense and styled Death Metal... Don't think that we've got here exactly the same kind of band, the german is basically DM where ANHEDONIST is basically DOOM, it's just that beyond their obvious quality there's a few common elements that can gather fans of both these bands... and a few others !

Coming from Seattle, ANHEDONIST, after a promising demo "the drear" in 2010, presents here its debut album "Netherwards" freshly released on Dark Descent rds. Just keeping a few ideas from older material, the band proposes 4 new songs "Saturnine", "Estrangement", "Carne Liberatus" and "Inherent Opprobrium" for about 40 minutes.

The result shows a neat development in the songwriting and originality, not as raw and grinding in the fastest parts, not as monolithic and introspective in the slowest ones, but more aesthetic and sometimes almost epic. You'll maybe think I like too much comparisons, it's just that I feel it's helpful when you wanna discover new bands, but the DISEMBOWELMENT influence is far less obvious, the sound gained in personnality : globally still very dark and despaired but a great part of the ugliness has let place to some beautiful melancholic soundscapes (2nd song), including in the vocals who have a lot more variety than previously, with some menacing and abrasive tones too at times.

Shreding death metal parts are present but, as you've guessed, don't form the essential of the songs, save the 3rd one which stands rather more in a sepulchral DM motion in the godly vein of INCANTATION, not a coîncidence if this one is by far the shortest of the album!!! ANHEDONIST is before anything else a DOOM band : hauting, slow, mournful, extremely heavy; sure there's here a feeling of early doom/death era, english more precisely, but I don't think this sounds too old-school or like already-heard ten times before stuff, because those abyssal, soaring and tumultuous moods make it a very rich and pretty daring affair.

I paid attention to this Thrash band earlier this year with their song "Welcome to Yourself" on "True Metal Never Rusts" vol 1released by Steel and Fire rds and now they 've sent me an advance of their forthcoming ep "War is Imminent" due to be released within the next two months.

Formed in 2009, this american quatuor located in the Inland Empire area is (like quite many of the bands from this amazing compilation) into old-school THRASH from the mid 80's... ok, but "which school ? German or American ?" could you add ?!!! From the American one I would say, with references to EXODUS, OVERKILL and VIO-LENCE; the guys add the term "progressive" to their description, well I'm not too sure about that, as some could misunderstand this interpretation ... but if that means there's many tempo changes and that the band is not constantly blasting in brutality, then that's OK !!!

It's a fact that the band members are certainly opened to more refined and/or different styles of music which allow them to evolute in a kind of oasis of riffs, rather than in an apocalyptic bloody environment; but there's no particular compromise in the music of XPULSION though, this is raw and shredding, just in no case a perpetual punishing aggression...

Always extremely structured, the 4 songs last from five to almost eight minutes (the excellent title track). The sound is very clear, sharp and ripping, it enhances particularly those chunky guitars, lightning drums and amazing solos, no wankery here like too often in Thrashing solos who finally sound almost everytime the same, of course they're insane but there's a real melodic sense, velocity and gracefullness.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

After "Wulfram" their debut full-length (originally recorded as THE MOSS) and their more recent split ep with the interstellar godz of ICE DRAGON, here's finally "Gyromancer" in its entirety, the new 4 songs EP from the almighty Psychedelic Heavy Doom rockers FELLWOODS from Portland... puted on line a few minutes ago !!!

IMPORTANT : the band is looking for a label to do the vinyl version. If anyone out there knows
someone who might do it, please let them know!

Enjoy this one, check out previous efforts if not done yet and support FELLWOODS who's gonna play 3 dates with UZALA next month :

Thu May 24 Boise, ID @ Visual Arts Collective

Fri May 25 Seattle, WA @ Rat & Raven Sat May 26 Portland, OR @ Plan B

I feel that there's many things to speak about the past 3 months and the immediate future of FELLWOODS, so expect a new interview with Adam pretty soon (and another one with Ron Rochondo seems necessary too ) !

This quintet from North Carolina, consisting in Jeff Neal (vocals), Mitch Allred ( guit), David Ellenburg (guit), Kevin Davis (bass) and Jerry Cloer (drums), formed in Summer 2011 and already released a 1st album... but this is everything except a band of young unexperimented metallers or hipsters, judge : they represent a combined ninety-four years of experience and a collective discography which spans over twenty-eight recordings (from various bands into Rock, Punk, Grind, and Metal like Unsettled, Society's Burden, Deceiver, Rictus Grin, etc...), pretty impressive statistics !

And believe me, this, you can attest after just a few seconds playing "Residual Alcatraz" recently released on Heaven and Hell rds !!! Firmly rooted in old school Heavy/Doom Metal, DOGBANE takes as much influences in Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, than in Candlemass, Pentagram or Trouble, giving to their style a pronouced early 80's edge (including in the production by themselves, while the mastering has been done by Gary Long who worked for King Diamond and Solitude Aeternus among others). This should obviously suit to old metallers, in their forty years (just like me), who came to Heavy sounds when "killers","british steel" or "the skull" were released more or less 30 years ago, but not only to them of course ...

I think this is basically Classic DOOM Metal, numerous mega riffs remind it enough often, but always highly melodic and incisive, even sometimes explosive in the pure NWOBHM vein with typcial duo of guitars and hammering drums.

As you can imagine, Vocals are very powerful and melodic, maybe more slightly but there's that duality of styles too with tones eyeing on Rob Halford in his late 70's/early 80's period and with a nice doomier flavour à la Johan Langquist on Candlemass 1st album... I dig them, so warm, catchy and melodic at the same time.

DOGBANE didn't invent anything, how could they when playing such type of music ? This is not their intention at all, no these guys apply here, simply and humbly, the good old Metal recipes that they heard when they were kids/adolescents 30 years ago.Their experience, tightness and you know that palpably pleasure taken, allow them to master perfectly the subject ; so if you like it HEAVY, POWERFUL and MELODIC, enjoy and support them !

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

That's my report : no long descriptions, no setlists... just my shit !

***** THE TOP 3 :

ORCHID : the equivalent of CANDLEMASS special "epicus..." show last year = MEMORABLE... a bit more than an hour of HITS (from the ep and album) with a fantastic sound, and two new songs that ripped... The guys are very impressive of fluency and should blow everything away with their new album. I've very rarely felt such a communion between a band and its fans, pure moments of shared happiness !

YOB : Mike and his buddies did something I hardly could have expected with playing the cultish "the unreal never lived" in its entirety (and the song "adrift in the ocean" as unexpected bonus)... The sound was HUGE, just perfect for a 1hour and 15 minutes LESSON of epic and crushing heaviness; particularly at ease in his killer growls, this gig confirms my opinion that Mike S. became definitely the most complete vocalist of the Doom scene.

NECROS CHRISTOS : ten times heavier than on album, imagine the carnage ! one of my fave DM gigs ever, certainly the best DM vocal performance I've seen Live; they definitely have created their own style... impatient to see them again in June at the Hellfest !

+ bonus gigaplus : the DIAMOND QUEEN from The Grass Company

**** Other significant HIGHLIGHTS

SIGIRIYA : excellent performance from the welsh band; Stuart is incredible on stage : very incisive and groovy, funny to see how he's always smiling during his awesome solos ! great vocal performance here too

LORD VICAR : due to some little problems with the sound, particularly on Chritus vocals, they needed a bit of time to be at their usual high level, but the set was globally memorable with obviously a good part of songs from their brilliant sophomore album

OM : no photos, definitely too dark to take good photos (at least in my position with my camera) but a perfect ambiance though... massive heavy sounds with refinement, tightness and dark emotions

+ bonus superplus : our own cocktails with RHUM and grapefruit, plus the excellent general ambience reigning during the festival

*** GREAT

VOIVOD:playing "dimension hatröss" in its entirety, that says it all !

CHURCH OF MISERY : too bad about the Bass problems but the new singer is very competitive and this australian guitarist is always a fucking master !

THE WOUNDED KINGS : I liked very much the few moments I've seen, but too short ... I'm ashamed towards such a great band and so nice people : in March I already missed a great part of their gig in Rennes cause I had been too longly talking with the singer of TBDLB and now I just see the 1st song of their set, feeling very bad at that moment I need to go outside during a little hour... victim of a serious technical problem of proportions in what I was smoking :(

THE OBSESSED : good set but I was expecting better, with let's say ... more taste ! Wino did the job, nothing more special.

DOPETHRONE : I expected something a bit wilder from Montreal's trio, they seemed a bit stressed and tired, certainly the consequences of Vincent's guitar that had been stolen during the travel ! but their filthy Sludge ripped and to see Carl hammering is drums so heavily was amazing.

DANAVA : no photos as I was too much in the back of the small Stage 01, but the set was good with if I'm not wrong all the songs from "hemisphere of shadows" except one, adding two great songs of the sophomore album for maybe the bluesiest gig of my week-end.

HUATA : the french band was very awaited by their recent and old fans and attracted quite many curious too I guess... thinking something like "who are these druids playing fuzzy occult Stoner/Doom with a bottle of chouchen in hands ?" A bit stressed, having to face again some sound problem capacities, but soon in their set, the french band presents finally to the world "the Atavist of Mann" and it makes no doubt that new fans have been conquered by their extreme heaviness, accentuated by very tight and serious performances from the guitarist and Ronan on vocals.

MARS RED SKY : would deserve a better mention certainly, but I saw only about 10 minutes of this french band that really needs more attention (including from me first !).

SAVIOURS : sweat, hair and Metal... that's the 3 words that come in mind when thinking about their performance, very catchy brand of metallic Stoner n' roll !

CELESTIAL SEASON : very good moment with those dutch death/doomsters playing their "solar lovers" album 17 years later; didn't remember that the Stoner overtones were so nicely present there, great !

BONGRIPPER : too bad I was really tired for one of Saturday's last gigs, but they were immensely brutal which along with my last joint (before leaving back to France) definitely finished me !!!

+ the listening session of the new ST VITUS : great idea and thanx for this special rolling paper !

+ the enormous breakfasts I took at the hotel

*AVERAGE

40 WATT SUN : should be seen in another context, to play on the biggest scene wasn't appropriated at all

WITCH : a few good moments/riffs but their repertory is definitely too unequal.

- DISAPPOINTING :

SLEEP - how can this get so much praise ? too fucking noisy, most of the songs were so hardly recognizable ! he, look at the photo ... seriously, does a band who originally play some Sabbathian stuff need so many amps ???

- the TRAVEL to arrive at Tilburg, late after various successive problems that led me to miss D.USK !

- Too many people at some point this year, that's a serious problem for the smaller rooms... it was impossible to see CONAN for example unless you arrived at least 15 minutes before; that has been the only band I personally missed for that reason but that was the same problem for most gigs in Stage 01 and the Green Room. I saw LORD VICAR, DOPETHRONE, NECROS CHRISTOS, HUATA and a few others, in rather great conditions, just because I was there about 20 minutes before the gig started ! Otherwise, if luckily there's still one or two places in the hall you have to pray not being behind 2 or 3 giant dutch or vikings !!!

Nothing dramatical and hard to live at all, this is just to say that this is a waste of time for discovering bands like I used to do last year or at the Hellfest for example...

All in all this was pretty memorable, a little bit under2011 for myself but not so surprising as last year included more DOOM bands I think... But I'm a bit afraid about next year, considering that E.W. will be curators, I fear this will bring many more people pretending for a ticket to the festival, including certainly mainstream people... the price of success !